The Dark Side of The Heart
by redcolours
Summary: The Charmed Ones think Harry's darklighter is dead. However, Macy soon has to choose between her destiny and the dark side of her heart. Hacy fic in 3 parts. Set after 2x06.
1. Chapter 1

The house was empty and full of light. Even though all the rooms, all the furniture and peculiarities, right down to the splintered wooden skirtings and frosted glass door frames, were the same as last year, to Macy it didn't quite feel like home anymore. As she sat at the kitchen table, her hands splayed out onto the soft keys of her laptop, Macy began wondering just what about the Vera-Vaughn home felt so alien and strange to her now.

Perhaps it was because Harry magically transported the house across the country to Seattle and cloaked it (having a small element of familiarity in a strange place was an uncomfortable situation Macy did not like being in), or perhaps it brought back all the old memories of a life which sometimes she felt like they had never lived.

Everyone in Hilltowne thought Macy and her sisters were dead, and their beautiful house burned down, and yet Macy often found it hard to feel sad. That town and all the people they met there felt ancient, like it had happened years ago. So much had happened since then, Macy had barely spent any time in the house at all. Being the only Charmed one with active powers meant ever since they moved to Seattle, Macy felt as though she was constantly running between the Elders' command centre in Safe Space Seattle and yet another fight with a demon, or a demon-witch, or … a darklighter.

Ah, that might be the third reason this house feels weird now, thought Macy, as she sat staring gormlessly at her bright laptop screen, in a mental daze with her confused thoughts. After being kidnapped by Harry's darklighter and forced into an impressive simulation of the house, Macy couldn't shake the creepy, paranoid feeling that something didn't quite feel right, especially when she was in the house alone, with only the cold air and stillness to accompany her. She knew Harry's darklighter was dead, but sometimes Macy would still get the feeling that someone was watching her.

"Macy,"

She jumped, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. She could feel the tips of her fingers prickling with fiery power as she turned her head towards the voice.

It was Harry.

Macy let out a short sigh of relief before smiling warmly towards her whitelighter. Harry gave a grin in return and walked to the table. The article on Macy's laptop screen caught his eye with dramatic consequences. The job posting title was bold and large and could not be missed. Macy had been delving so far into her own thoughts that she had forgotten what she was originally doing. She didn't manage to shut the page in time before it came into Harry's view.

**UNIVERSITY LAB GENETICIST WANTED IN LONDON, ENGLAND**

Macy messily scrambled for her mouse and keys, desperately trying to conceal her secret reservations and personal dreams that could never be. She had accepted that her sisters needed her, and the world needed her, to step up and be who she was meant to be, but that didn't mean she couldn't look, and fantasise a different life, a different path.

Harry stopped dead in his tracks upon glimpsing the job advertisement. His mouth fell open in shock, and prepared for defiance.

"London," Harry uttered, uncertainty quivering in his voice.

Macy gave a worried, apologetic frown as Harry sat down next to her, at the head of the table. There was only a corner's distance between them, and Macy was very aware of this. As Harry lowered himself into the chair, Macy couldn't help but notice his bold jaw and his concerned green eyes staring back at her. Those were the two things that Macy always noticed first, and it usually made her feel as though Harry was digging deep into her soul, and rummaging around in all her darkest, secret desires.

Macy quickly shook her head violently. "No, no...it's nothing. I was just looking."

She tossed the fuzzy fantasy into the abyss. She was never actually going to apply. She was a Charmed One, and she knew her place in the supernatural world was important.

Completely expecting Harry to look troubled or maybe even a little annoyed, you can imagine how confused Macy was when she looked up to find Harry staring right back at her, a look of passionate sorrow on his face. His head was tilted to the side slightly, his lips closed and confident and his eyes were soft, as though he felt sorry for Macy. The emeralds were piercing as they slowly darted over Macy's facial features, as though they were observing each bump and freckle individually. The look, the eye contact, the tension, made Macy feel cared for and loved. She knew it wasn't a facial expression Harry used lightly; he usually only studied her so intensely when he thought Macy wasn't looking. He didn't stop, so Macy began to feel uncomfortable. She fidgeted in her seat which finally made Harry break his gaze.

As he looked across the table, his lips parted wide in hesitation, Macy could feel the roof of her mouth go dry and her hands went clammy. She gulped deeply and tried to take a deep breath in through her nose to calm herself. Her affection for Harry was just another problem in her crazy world of problems and she couldn't waste time thinking about it.

"Macy," Harry started in a calming, controlled tone which Macy wasn't so used to hearing. "You are capable of so much more than you know."

Macy gave a slight frown. Harry seemed different, more open and captivating, but she couldn't decide whether it was a good thing. Harry continued, cautiously as though time was getting slower and slower with each word.

"You are the kindest, smartest, most powerful witch I've ever met." He gave an admiring smile, accompanied by a short outburst of breath from his nostrils. "You should follow your heart."

"Just because this world wants you to be someone, a Charmed one, " Harry added, with a deep sigh. "It isn't a life if you're trapped."

There was a long pause. Macy didn't know what to say. Harry wasn't usually this forward, or keen to break destiny's rules by encouraging Macy to give up demon hunting. The whitelighter she knew was sensible, and objective, and, although he was full of wisdom, he was normally anxious to impart too much in fear of influencing the girls and affecting their own choices. He was honourable and respectful like that. What had changed?

"When I became a whitelighter, I was trapped," Macy could feel Harry's pain of confessing his feelings. "I was stuck in what was expected of me...and my place in the grand plan."

Harry gave an insecure smile, continuing to caress Macy's face with his gaze.

"But there are things...feelings," Harry leaned over and placed his hand on top of Macy's. His cool, rough skin sent shivers up her arm and she could feel her heart rate begin to rise. "That are more important than our destinies."

Macy felt as though she was losing control over her breathing. Her thoughts were unorganised and numberless. She had no idea whether Harry was still talking about the job in London, or...something else. She didn't mean to, but in her heart she deeply hoped it was something else. She opened her mouth nervously to speak.

"I-"

"Macy," Harry stopped her, leaning in even closer still and placing his second hand onto hers, in an almost plea for intimacy. The way he whispered her name made everything around them fade away; the house, Macy's problems, her sisters. For a moment, it was only them, and she wished she could stay there forever.

"I love you,"

Macy thought her heart had stopped completely. For a second she thought she was dreaming but his caring voice was real, and it made her light-headed and sick. Their eyes were locked on each other and Macy's began to fill with loving tears. She knew the dark Harry had feelings for her, but she never thought _her _Harry would feel the same way, let alone be this romantic.

"Let's go to London, together." Harry continued, before Macy could collect her thoughts. "We can be together Macy, just like you want. I know you do."

Macy had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. In one way, she could see the Harry she knew and loved so well sitting in front of her, but in another way she felt scared like it was all so wrong and twisted. How did he know her feelings? Was she really that easy to read? She could feel the first tear drop trickle down her cheek.

The sound of her phone vibrating on the table in front of her shook Macy from her thoughts and she pulled away from Harry's grasps. As she looked down to see who was calling her, she felt her heart jump start again.

The name on the phone was so disgustingly wrong and yet it was as clear as the black and white pixels it was displayed on.

**Harry**

Macy tried to gasp for air but it felt like her lungs were frozen. She stared back up at her magical, loyal, beautiful whitelighter as her phone continued to buzz urgently on the table, making horrid distorted noises against the wood. The sound synchronised with the screaming in Macy's soul.

Harry gazed back at her, unaware of the revelation Macy had just encountered. He looked young and honest. Macy couldn't think. It was Harry. The man sat in front of her was her whitelighter. The man who was harmless and vulnerable. The one she knew so well and thought about so often. She could feel her heart tearing in two, with one side darker and heavier than the other.

The phone stopped, cloaking the room in a cold, unbearable silence. With her lip quivering and the one lonely tear dropping to her chin, Macy uttered the only word in her mind.

"Harry?"

The man at the table drew his hands back towards his body, a look of concern spreading across his face. With his eyebrows creasing and his eyes losing his softness, his expression turned harsher and darker. Macy felt fear spreading over her body. It couldn't be.

She heard a noise and felt a small familiar blast of magic coming from behind her. Darting her head round, she found the freshly-orbed Harry and Mel staring back at her. Both their faces turned to horror as they noticed the man Macy was sitting with.

Hearing another orbing murmur, Macy looked back at the man but it was too late. He was gone.

Still desperately attempting to breath, Macy's hands drifted up to her mouth as the true realisation of what had just happened hit her. Emotions of adoration, loyalty, betrayal, forgiveness, embarrassment and vulnerability messily flooded and then fled her system within milliseconds. She could feel the tears hitting her fingers, as the shocked faces of Mel and the real Harry behind her stared blankly into space.

The silence was projecting but everyone in the room had the same one thought; Harry's darklighter wasn't dead. He was back.

Macy felt her stomach churn with a secret never-ending crimson desire.


	2. Chapter 2

"How is he alive?"

Maggie's anxious bright voice seemed to echo around the kitchen. Mel shrugged, mouth wide open in shock.

Harry, the real, sensible Harry, stood speechless, in a daze, mentally detailing his last encounter with his darklighter and how certain it had felt. He saw him die. He stabbed the other half of him, the tortured and twisted half, in the heart and he had disappeared into black smoke. Harry had been so sure of it, so sure it was over.

Ever since he fought his darklighter and won, he had felt partially empty, and alone, but he also felt that a weight had been lifted. Seeing him again, sitting in their home, so close to Macy, made Harry's insides squirm. He had been so ready to move on and forget all that had happened; start a new life, but now it felt like his darkness would never leave him alone.

"And, how did he find us?"

Maggie was always the most talkative Charmed One, unable to allow information to sink in for those who were less emotionally intelligent as her. Nobody answered her question - nobody could.

Macy still sat behind her laptop, staring into nothingness and desperately trying to come to terms with what had happened between her and Harry's darklighter, and how she felt about it. He was definitely gone, but Macy could still sense his coarse fingers on her wrist, his warm breath on her cheek, like he was a ghost only she could see.

Maggie's proding queries were barely reaching Macy's frontal lobe, as the eldest sister wished for solitude, a moment to collect herself and not have her feelings, her heart, on display to her sisters...and Harry.

Her whitelighter and his darklighter counterpart were technically the same person, the same being with the same soul, and yet Macy was finding it easier and easier to tell them apart. Looking up from the table to look at Harry, dressed in his usual smart suit and white shirt, Macy felt as though, for the first time, these two halves of a whole had absolutely nothing in common.

The darklighter was expressive and thoughtless and impulsive. The whitelighter staring back down at her, was none of those things, he couldn't be, it was against every fibre of his existence. He was protective and kind and responsible. Harry frowned and began to look worried. Maybe he knows, Macy thought, as she quickly diverted her gaze, anxious that she had been staring at him for too long.

"Are you okay?" he asked, in his usual compassionate tone.

"Did he hurt you?" followed Maggie, seemingly bursting with panic and rage.

Macy shook her head slowly and tried to give a small smile to show the room that she was fine and untouched. She fought so hard to not give away the truth; that she could still feel Harry's heartbeat in her chest, and his whispers in her ear.

She was somewhat relieved that Maggie had lost her empathic powers; it meant no one could read her thoughts right now. She was too torn, and too unsure about her own desires that she couldn't handle her sisters knowing them too.

"What did he want?" Mel asked. The room fell into an awkward silence.

Everyone suspected the same thing. Unbeknownst to Macy, Mel and Maggie knew Harry's darklighter had feelings for her. Mel instantly regretted asking the question, as Maggie threw her a concerned glance.

The two Vera sisters were under pressure. Following their discovery of Macy's diary and her affection for Harry, they were the only two people in the universe who knew the truth in everyone's hearts, including both Harrys.

The tension between Macy and Harry was becoming unbearable, with both parties trying to avoid eye contact. Everytime Macy looked up, she could see sweet and harmless Harry attempting to console her, or to say anything that might help. He kept parting his mouth to speak but retreated every time. Macy's heart sank in disappointment. That was the biggest difference between the Harrys. The darklighter was confident and unafraid of conventions. If he was still in the room, he would have captivated Macy by now and webbed her up in a complicated tangle of seductive words.

Maggie shuffled nervously. Despite everyone's suspicions, there was one thing only Macy knew; Harry's darklighter was in love with her, or at least he believed he was.

Thinking about it again, Macy felt terribly light-headed and, to prevent fainting there and then, she darted up and tried to excuse herself, exiting the room as quickly as she could. Harry instinctively sprinted after her.

"I'm sorry," Harry stuttered, as he stopped Macy in the hallway by the stairs. "I swear I thought I had killed him."

"It's not your fault," Macy replied, steadying herself on the bannister. Harry gave a pity-inducing sigh, frowning at his own failure.

"I thought he was gone,"

Macy could hear how disappointed Harry was with himself, and how scared. It made Macy realise just how many moments there were during her interactions with his darklighter where she didn't feel scared at all. Harry was so adamant that his other half was twisted and evil, but maybe it wasn't that simple. She herself was an example of just how complicated it can be when light and darkness collide.

"I don't know how he survived but it's starting to feel as though I'm never going to be free of him. Maybe he's a part of me, maybe he will always be a part of me."

Macy saw the realisation growing on Harry's face, the sudden understanding that maybe he and his darklighter were tied to each other, mentally, physically, in life and in death. Maybe they weren't so different after all, Macy thought.

"Macy?" Harry queried, noticing Macy's distracted, distant expression.

"Yeah, it's nothing, it's just…" Macy's thoughts clouded her again. "Do you ever feel…." she trailed off, not really knowing what she wanted to say.

As much as she had convinced herself that she belonged here with her sisters, as a Charmed One, she couldn't shake the thought of London, and of all the things Harry's darklighter had said, about being trapped. It wasn't until she looked deep into her whitelighter's innocent, sparkling eyes that Macy realised she didn't actually want to talk about London with him, she couldn't. Her whitelighter was loyal to his cause, his purpose, and Macy couldn't expect him to approve of moving to England, let alone relate to how she was feeling. Even if Harry did understand, Macy wouldn't feel comfortable opening up that much, or putting extra baggage on him.

As far as Macy knew, her whitelighter didn't feel the same way about her as his darklighter did.

Macy gave a small smile. "It's nothing," she whispered, before making her way up the stairs.

Dinner that night was quiet, with everyone trying to act as normal as possible but nobody really wanting to talk a lot. Macy retired first, leaving behind worried looks and glances between Mel, Maggie and Harry. She seemed more tired than usual, and like her brain was a thousand miles away. However, the family knew Macy was strong and brave and if she needed them, they would be there. Everyone just felt grateful that Harry's darklighter assassin hadn't made another appearance.

Macy stood in front of her dark mirror, ready to get dressed for bed. Her eyes were heavy and yet her mind felt wide awake. She had no idea how she was going to fall asleep. Suddenly, seeing a glimpse of a figure in the mirror, she spun round.

It was Harry, but she knew exactly which one. He stood a little hunched over and wore a black leather jacket and jeans. His dark hair was messy and spiked up in all directions and there was a tiny twinkle in his eye, and a smirk in his smile, which told Macy everything she needed to know.

Her heart started thumping in her chest, her hands growing clammy again. Why was he here? Why did he come back? How could he trust that Macy wouldn't just vanquish him on sight?

Macy normally held her composure masterfully, but she was beginning to confuse her feelings of fear with feelings of arousal. Her confusion and elevated pulse grew worse the longer she had her eyes locked on the darklighter standing only a few feet away from her. The eye contact this time felt like it lasted for years, but eventually Macy felt compelled to speak.

"It's you," her voice quivered.

Harry gave a smile, as though he admired Macy's seemingly new-found ability to distinguish him from his other half. Every time they were together, they grew closer.

As the darklighter stepped further into the light, he bent forwards to sit on the end of Macy's bed. He let out a soft groan as he clutched at his side. Macy looked down at his black t-shirt to see a dark red patch under his leather jacket.

"You're hurt?" she asked, doing her best to sound like she didn't care, like her heart wasn't jumping in distress for him.

She surprised herself with how panicked she became upon noticing the wound. Looking back up at his face she realised how exhausted he looked. He had relief-stricken sweat gleaming off of his forehead, like he had been fighting someone or something.

"It turns out my master…" Harry began, in a weaker voice than usual. "Isn't too keen on the idea of my affections for you."

Harry stared up at Macy, using his mystical eyes to non-verbally convince her of every ounce of his love.

"Your master did this to you?" Macy asked, voice shaking more and more as her heart yearned for him. "Why?"

Harry took a long, tactful pause. Macy was certain the silence made her deep breathing and her trembling shoulders even more noticable. Harry looked back up, jaw clenched and eyes like daggers.

"I didn't want to be trapped,"

Macy let out a deep gasp of relief and amazement, as she could feel her eyes prickling with reluctant tired tears. Had he really gone against his master...for her? Had he got injured, risked his life, just to see her? Just to inspire her to follow her own inner voice?

"I'll be fine," Harry added, slowly standing back up.

Maybe Harry had done all this to control her, to lure her back into his disgusting evil trap. Macy fought with every atom of her existence to scream for her sisters, to turn Harry away and tell him he was wrong about all of this. However, as Macy stood just inches away from the darklighter, she found she could no longer lie to herself. She had a feeling she had never had before, a feeling of true acceptance and comfort, like their relationship was right.

"Macy…"

The way he whispered her name sounded snake-like and seductive. Macy wanted him. She wanted his touch, and his kiss.

"I meant what I said-"

"Macy!"

A voice from downstairs interrupted the dark room. It was Mel. Both Macy and Harry straightened up, shaken from their own enchantment.

Harry quickly looked over his shoulder and then back to Macy, patiently waiting for her to react, to tell her sisters he was here, to betray him. Macy froze, as Mel continued calling her name from below. She knew it was wrong, but she wished Mel hadn't called. She wished Mel, and the rest of the world, could just go away, just for one more moment, so she could be alone with Harry.

When Macy's reply never came, Harry beamed, his eyes lighting up for the very first time. There was hope for them.

Macy stood trembling, tears finally rolling down her face as she realised exactly how strong the connection was between her and the darklighter.

Footsteps from outside caused Harry to orb away in a flash, just in time. Mel pushed open Macy's door and strolled into the room, instantly starting to rant about her theory for how the darklighter was still alive, without having any knowledge that just seconds before the darklighter had been in that very room.

Macy raced hard to brush away the tears and act normal, but her heart continued jumping up and down, and her future began setting fast in stone. Keeping secrets, keeping her deepest, darkest side of her heart away from her sisters wasn't even a thought in Macy's mind. She had no reservations, and no guilt left. The only thing she could think about was him.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three days. Three long days since Macy last came face to face with Harry's darklighter.

As messed up as it felt, the eldest Charmed One was beginning to get agitated, like she was waiting for him to turn up. She began to get angry, wondering whether it was some manipulative game he was playing; going off the radar, leaving her wondering where he was, what he was doing, whether he was safe.

Macy knew she was growing more and more frustrated and it was becoming more obvious to her sisters and Harry. Every time Harry asked Macy if she remembered anything else the darklighter had said to her, anything that might help track him down, she would snap and seize up, her dark secret slowing consuming her insides. It had been harder and harder to tell her sisters about the darklighter's second visit to her bedroom, and so after three days she felt it almost impossible to bring up. What good would it do?

The atmosphere in the house started to become unbearable, and Macy kept finding herself going for walks, just to get away and out into fresh, freeing air.

It felt like she was living two lives. She would sit and listen to Mel and Maggie conjure up ideas and spells to find the darklighter and try her best to seem interested, but in her heart she was still waiting, waiting for him to come back. She couldn't understand her feelings, or what she would do if she saw him again, but she knew in the back of her mind that he would return to her, and that's all she really cared about at the moment.

On day three, Macy thought she was going to burst with emotion and pressure. She kept quiet for most of the day and when Mel and Maggie went out to get groceries and she and Harry were left alone in the attic together, she was clouded with a crazy, desperate thought.

If the dark Harry wouldn't come back to her, maybe she could find him in her whitelighter. Maybe they weren't that different, she thought, as she looked up to Harry studying an old, dusty book. His look of concentration on whatever he was reading was admirable and strong. Her whitelighter really would give his life for her and her sisters, and that was sweet. He was sweet, Macy couldn't deny that, and his darklighter was a part of him. All of dark Harry's motivations and characteristics were once Harry's. Maybe there was a part of that half of him still in there.

Macy knew she was making a hormonal, heart-broken mistake when she stood up and walked slowly over to where Harry was standing with his book. He stopped reading and looked up, his green eyes sending shivers down Macy's spine. There it was again; the eye contact that made her weak. She had no idea what she wanted. This Harry wasn't the Harry who made her hands clammy, and her heart beat fast. His green eyes were beautiful but they didn't have the twinkle of mischief the other Harry had, but there was something there. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. They had the same face, the exact same shade of emeralds; that had to count for something.

Harry began to look worried and his eyebrows creased up as Macy continued to stare at him, studying his every atom. Due to the tension, Macy opened her mouth but didn't know where her words were leading them.

"The Darklighter…" her voice came out much more seductive than she had intended. "Do you ever think maybe we're fighting the wrong enemy?"

Harry looked down, at a loss for what to say.

"He has a master," Macy added quickly, trying to form some connection with her whitelighter, to finally open up to him. "He's...a prisoner and he's a part of you. If you had killed him, you would have lost all those parts of you."

Macy began to feel emotional. Tears which remained absent for three days suddenly began to threaten her composure. She realised for the first time that she was glad Harry's darklighter was still alive, and that maybe she had mourned for him, longed for him, and that with both Harry's in the world, both half of the man she loved, it made sense. It was right.

"Who's to say that those parts are any less important than…" Macy placed her hand on Harry's. "Than you."

Harry suddenly became very uncomfortable at Macy's physical display of affection. Slowly he realised the real meaning of their conversation. The way she talked about his darklighter was too enthusiastic, too caring. Harry's chest filled with dread; he had been down this road before. He didn't want to lose someone he loved again, and he didn't want to hold Macy back. He felt he wasn't enough for her.

He pulled away from her touch. Macy blinked several times, holding back tears at his blatant rejection.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, staring back into Macy's desperate eyes. "We can't."

Harry turned to walk away but stopped just before the door. He loved Macy, of course he did, but he couldn't put himself before the world, before his duty and responsibility, and he didn't have the confidence, the charm, that his darklighter had. He knew this.

Without looking back, he allowed his heart to be ripped open one more time.

"I'm not him," he winced, before disappearing out of sight.

Macy had spent the rest of the day alone in her room, sobbing every so often, as the sky outside grew darker. After her conversation with Harry, she now felt more confused than ever. Who did she love? Who did she want? After three days of wishing for his darklighter to return, she now wanted them both out of her sight forever. It was all too complicated, too much for her heart.

Suddenly, there was a clatter from downstairs. Macy frowned. She knew her sisters were brewing a potion in the attic with Harry, and she hadn't heard anyone walk past her room to go down the stairs. Convinced she was probably mistaken, she slowly creaked open her door and made her way down to the kitchen. It was empty, flooded in moonlight and eerily silent. Macy gave a sigh of relief.

Another noise made her jump out of her skin. It came from the living room.

"Maggie?" Macy yelled into the darkness as she slowly tiptoed into the next room. "Mel?"

A bold figure stood in the centre of the living room, looking out the window, his face hidden. Macy gasped. The man moved his head to the side but he was still so cloaked in shadows, Macy couldn't figure out which one he was.

"Harry?" Macy asked shakily.

The figure turned slowly, and stepped into the light. He looked frightening, like a predator, as he stared at Macy with dangerously passionate intentions. He was a snake, or a falcon, watching his prey, but Macy kind of liked it. It was thrilling. Her heart did a backflip as she realised her lost love had returned to her. Her chest flooded with relief.

"Macy,"

She never wanted him to stop saying her name, or looking in her eyes. He scared her, sometimes, he was dangerous, sometimes, but he also loved her. She felt safe with him, at home with him. She believed he would never hurt her, he couldn't.

She felt her feet stepping closer to him, like she was being hypnotised. She couldn't tell whether she was under a spell or not, if she was dreaming or not, but she didn't care. The gap between them grew narrower. He was part of her whitelighter, but he was the adventurous part, the exciting part, the part she wanted.

She was now inches away from his face. His skin glowed under the moonlight. He looked revitalised, angelic, beautiful. Their heart beats synchronized, their breathing slowed.

"I'm sorry..." Harry whispered, lifting his hand to caress Macy's neck. "I took so long. I was hurt bad."

The darklighter's bloody stomach wound flashed into Macy's mind from three days before when he turned up in her bedroom. Her heart weeped with worry, but she could see Harry looked well, stronger, firmer than she had ever seen him. He looked more confident, and free, like he had finally shaken the master who had been controlling him.

"I needed time to rest, to heal."

Macy let out a long, loving sigh as Harry smoothed her cheek. She shut her eyes and concentrated only on his touch, the perfect brush of his fingers. She leaned in to kiss him and found he had frozen, unsure how to react, like he was nervous. After a moment of pressing her lips against his, he moved into her body and wrapped his other arm around her waist, kissing back in intense climatic desire. His grip on her was soft. Macy didn't feel scared at all.

It was everything she had dreamed of.

Footsteps in the hall tore the couple apart, but not quick enough.

"Macy?"

Mel's scared, confused voice rippled across the room. Macy turned her head, her arms still resting on the darklighter's shoulders.

Mel, Maggie and Harry, the real Harry, stood gawping at Macy and the man she had just embraced. They were just a few feet away from her; Macy was almost certain they had seen them kissing.

"Get away from her!" Maggie yelled.

The darklighter let go of Macy, and stepped backwards towards the window in defence. He was braced to run. Macy stood petrified, stuck in between her family and the man she had fallen in love with.

Mel raised her arm and Macy noticed a small purple bottle gripped tightly in her hand.

"No!"

Macy couldn't help herself; her objection just came out. Her arm had suddenly raised to stop her sisters attacking Harry, her Harry. She began shaking, and her eyes filled with tears.

Mel's arm slowly lowered and her and Maggie stared longingly at Macy.

"Macy,"

Her whitelighter stepped forwards. The way he said her name felt different. He felt different. Macy knew he cared for her, but somehow it didn't feel like it could be enough. He held out his hand for Macy and he looked desperately up at her, at his witch he swore to protect. He used his twinkling eyes to beg for her to come back to them.

"Macy,"

The way the darklighter whispered her name was slimy in an intriguing way. His breath blew past her cheek. She could tell he was stood right behind her, as close as he could get. It made the whitelighter's face in front of her grow angrier and sterner. He was protective of her, she knew that, but would he ever let her truly be free? He had already made his position perfectly clear in the attic earlier that day. He couldn't let the Charmed Ones down. He couldn't let anything threaten his responsibility. He couldn't stop protecting her.

"They'll never understand you,"

The darklighter knew Macy's insecurities, her switches, and her weaknesses.

The whitelighter frowned at his other half's disgusting words, as though he was offended and ashamed all at once. Deep in his heart, he worried he would never be enough for Macy, and maybe he was right.

Macy instantly swivelled around, facing the man she desperately wanted. This was the moment. She had to make a choice.

The darklighter lifted up his hand in the same way the whitelighter had done and Macy cautiously took it.

"Macy!?" Maggie yelled again, horror and betrayal in her voice. Her sisters couldn't believe it. Shock was scrawled over their faces as they tried to digest what was happening.

Macy felt herself sobbing at her heart-wrenching decision. She loved her sisters, but he was the only thing that felt right in this moment. He was where she belonged. She looked back at her family one last time.

"I'm sorry," Macy stammered, choking down tears.

She meant it. She wished there was another way, but the darklighter was right. Harry would never understand her, not in the way he could, and he would never throw away his post as her protector. He would never be brave enough to kiss her, let alone love her courageously like his darklighter did.

The darklighter placed a hand on her arm and a powerful orbing light engulfed them. The last thing Macy saw was one lonely tear falling slowly down her whitelighter's face. He had lost the woman he loved most of all to a twisted and tortured version of himself. His green eyes looked frozen in pain.

Then, just like that, Macy was gone.

THE END

* * *

_That's it!_

_Ah thank you guys for reading!_

_I know it's a short one but I always pictured this story in three parts like this and I'm super happy with how it turned out. _

_My name is Evie and I am a semi-professional writer. My novel is out now in paperback and ebook: __ /2BjNx3F_

_Much love_

_x_


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